Kuwait Oil Company, ExxonMobil Reach Agreement on Heavy Oil Development

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) and ExxonMobil have reached an initial agreement to jointly develop heavy oil in northern Kuwait. KOC said it hopes to produce 900,000 barrels per day of heavy oil by 2020.

Khaled al-Sumaiti, Deputy Managing Director of KOC's northern oilfield operations, said in a Reuters report that: “The time table is set to be really tight, but, we will go all out to achieve our goal.” Al-Sumaiti also mentioned that the agreement with ExxonMobil will be finalized by July 2008. The state-owned KOC is in charge of Kuwait's domestic oil exploration and operations. The joint project will focus on northern Kuwait's Lower Fars oilfield.

KOC's goal, according to al-Sumaiti, is to bring the daily production of heavy oil to 50,000 barrels by 2011, and then to 250,000 barrels per day by 2015. Al-Sumaiti said he acknowledges the difficulties KOC faces in meeting its goals. The most difficult challenges are the lack of skilled workforce and the landmines left in northern Kuwait by the war with Iraq.

Developing heavy oilfields is part of Kuwait's plans to raise its crude oil production. In the next 12 years, Kuwait aims to bring its daily crude oil production up to 4 million barrels.

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